Legislation for Connecticut police departments to become the first in the nation required by law to keep track and report every instance in which an officer discharges a stun gun is now on the desk of Governor Dannel P. Malloy, The Associated Press reported.
After the April 13th death of 22-year-old Jose Maldonado of Manchester, who was shocked by East Hartford police after they say he became combative during his booking on an assault charge, legislation on stun gun use by officers was introduced, according to the AP. It was the 14th stun-gun related death involving police in Connecticut since 2005, and the 10th involving a minority, according the ACLU of Connecticut.
"We needed to act," said state Representative Juan R. Candelaria from New Haven who sponsored the legislation, the AP reported. "There needs to be a mechanism in place where we can really monitor the use of these Tasers."
The bill was pushed through in the final hours of the General Assembly session and says departments should adopt training and procedures developed by the state's Police Officer Standards and Training Council for using the electronic weapons, according to the AP. It passed on votes of a 102-38 in the House and 35-1 in the Senate.
Candelaria said Malloy is expected to sign the bill, but Malloy's office said the governor was reviewing the legislation, the AP reported.
State Senator Jason Welch opposed the bill and said the law will make officers more reluctant to use stun guns, which could lead to them being injured or killed, according to the AP.
"Although the event in East Hartford was tragic, it was a clear outlier, and should not have led to this risky policy decision," Welch said, the AP reported.
Among other things, the policies prohibit the use of stun guns "in a punitive or coercive manner," on handcuffed criminals or when someone can be "reasonably dealt with in any other less intrusive fashion," according to the AP. It also outlines when they can be used simply to induce compliance through pain, rather than to disable a suspect.
